‘I escaped death in fatal plane crash before F1 GP – but I had to race'

Daily Mirror

25-05-2025

Despite his involvement in a fatal plane crash in 2000, ex-Formula One driver and Sky Sports F1 pundit David Coulthard fought through his injuries to compete in the Spanish Grand Prix five days later
David Coulthard once took part in a race just five days after surviving a plane crash that left him with broken ribs. The ex- Formula One star was racing for McLaren back in 2000 when he was involved in the harrowing incident on a private jet bound for his residence in the South of France.
Coulthard, 54, was travelling with his then-girlfriend Heidi Wichlinski and personal trainer Andy Matthews when their aircraft suffered an engine failure en route to Nice.
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Forced to make an emergency landing in Lyon from 39,000ft, the plane crashed onto the runway and erupted into flames, tragically killing pilots David Saunders and Dan Worley as the cockpit was torn away.
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Despite the trauma and his injuries, Coulthard showed remarkable resilience by choosing to compete in the Spanish Grand Prix shortly thereafter, where he was second in the championship standings.
In a 2023 interview with the Daily Star, the Sky Sports F1 pundit reflected: "It wasn't meant for me to depart on that particular day. Obviously, it was tragic for the pilots and their families. My girlfriend and my trainer at the time were on board, and we were able to leave the aircraft relatively unscathed, with just a few broken ribs.
"You then, like every major moment in your life, have decisions to make. I think the one thing with sports, irrespective of which sport it is, is it teaches you to move on, to compartmentalise what happened and why it happened, and then you turn the page.
"You've got to keep moving forward in life and in sport, particularly. That's what I chose to do: keep moving forward. I was physically capable of competing in that Grand Prix."
Coulthard nailed a remarkable second place in Spain, forming part of a McLaren 1-2 with two-time F1 world champion Mika Hakkinen.
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"I did my best in terms of reaching out to the families and the pilot's family and informing them of my intention to race and do so in their memory," he continued. "You're met with something that is obviously a major, major life-changing event; you can dwell on those moments and keep reliving them, or you can just move on, and that's what I've chosen to do."
Despite the traumatic incident, Coulthard has been adamant about not letting it impede his life, confessing he still flies frequently. "I spend my life on aircraft, at least a month each year, in terms of hours," he said. "I only spend 11 months of the year on the ground.
"The rest is spent in the air. I'm not a fan of worrying about things out of your control, I have to travel. If I wanted to be a control freak, then I would learn how to fly and get my own aircraft."
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The crash may have left Coulthard physically hurt but it also precipitated a personal transformation, acknowledging that the loss of the two pilots helped him leave behind his playboy ways.
Speaking on the Pitlane Life Lessons podcast, he shared the harrowing realisation of the incident's consequences. "Knowing that two families' lives had been changed forever – they were fathers, they were husbands, they were sons – it was horrible, absolutely horrible," he recounted (via the Express).
"What that did do was make me grow the f*** up. I think I'd just turned 30 and I was living the comforts of being well paid as a Formula 1 driver, jumping on private planes and all the good things... I think I was getting a little bit spoiled without realising it.
"That was a massive kick up the ass to slow down, not on the race track, be a bit more aware of decisions I was making and get rid of the 'I want this, make it happen now' attitude."